According to research firm Kantar WorldPanel, iPhone lays claim to 48.1% of US smartphone sales from August 1, 2012 to October 31, 2012. This is “more than double from a year ago” and is within reach of Apple’s high of 49.3% in early 2012. During the same period, Android dropped from 63.3% to 46.7%.Android dominates globally — no one will question that. Even in the United States, before the release of the iPhone 5, Android smartphones sold more than iPhone. With the release of the iPhone 5, however, Apple has regained the crown.

It should be noted, however, even though iPhone 5 has helped iPhone top the market in the US, Android still dominates worldwide… especially in Europe where, during the same period, 64% of smartphone sales in the top five European markets were Android phones whereas 21% were iPhones. It should also be noted that Android will likely regain the top spot in the US in a few months when iPhone 5 fever dies down or when a major Android vendor (namely Samsung) releases a new flagship device.

Why is Social Important for Business?

The year 2011 is considered by many to be the benchmark of the social revolution. We saw empowered consumers use social media to speak out against corporate missteps: Bank of America scrapped its planned $5 fee, Netflix stumbled when communicating its price increase, and Verizon reversed its announced $2 fee.

Many business leaders and journalists today believe that companies need to become more social or else prepare to experience such backlash. In a recent Forbesarticle, journalist David Kilpatrick argues that CEOs, executives and customer service teams should wake up to the fact that more customers are using Facebook and other social channels to talk about products and services today than are using email. Companies like Starbucks and Dell embrace social media, and thus, invite customers into the decision-making process.

Yet, Apple is conspicuously absent in all of these conversations. It is one of the most successful and loved technology brands today — repeatedly ranked as one of the world’s most admired brands — but by all accounts is not a “social” company. Apple hosts no blog, Twitter handle, Apple-branded Facebook page, Google+ hangout or shareable YouTube videos on its website. The company does maintain Twitter and Facebook accounts for iTunes and the App Store, but these are mainly used to post new releases, not to engage customers.

Apple’s reluctance to create outposts on social media is not surprising given its historically tight control over communications. Such brand control has no doubt contributed to the powerful simplicity of its messages and has strengthened anticipation of each Apple announcement and product unveiling.

Is Apple’s Door Really Closed?

What is it about Apple that enables the company to ignore social media and yet still achieve wild success? I believe one answer is that Steve Jobs created a very specific culture. While working as an iPhoto producer at Apple in the early 2000s, I received a forwarded email originally sent to steve@apple.com. It was from an irate customer, and attached was a note from Steve Jobs saying, “Fix this.” I recall contacting the customer, helping him though the issue, and not giving it another thought. A few weeks later, the issue was resolved, and I received another forwarded email, this time with a positive note from both customer and CEO. This pattern repeated itself across Apple on a regular basis.

By responding to customers directly and creating a culture that listens and takes action, Steve Jobs engaged customers before anyone ever heard of Facebook, Klout or Twitter. While Steve Jobs was not asking customers what the next product should be, he was placing customer experience ahead of internal barriers and external market forces.

What’s Next for Apple?

Times have changed and there is a new leader at the helm. As Apple enters a new era, can CEO Tim Cook maintain the attention to feedback that Steve embraced? Will Apple’s leadership be able to respond to the next Antennagate controversy without using social channels?

Moving forward, Apple has an opportunity to gain more from engaging its social channels, and by embedding social sharing more deeply into its products. Doing so will make it easier for customers to share content, stay informed and get support.

In any case, Apple has already proven that customer success is not wholly dependent on Twitter follower counts and Facebook Likes; it is about building insanely great products about which you love enough to tweet.

At 6.1 inches, the Huawei Ascend Mate is set to further blur the already blurry line between phablets and actual tablets like the Nexus 7 (that’s the comparatively small Ascend D2 above). It’s all about bringing the fight to Samsung and one-upping the popular Galaxy Note 2. Huawei CEO Yu Chengdong says he’s currently using both the Ascend Mate and Galaxy Note 2 to compare, make notes, and ensure that his company’s pocket-busting device offers a superior all-round user experience.

Apart from the diagonal display measurement, Yu didn’t offer any additional specifics. He did, however, boast of a “more stunning” display — and based on what ZTE, LG, and Oppo are preparing to launch you’d have to assume that means the Ascend Mate will feature a 1080p panel. He also mentions a slimmer bezel and a chassis that’s easier to grip. Both will be important design features, since the 6.1-inch phone will already be stretching some hands to their limits.

Although Yu pegs the Ascend Mate as a direct challenger to the Galaxy Note , he doesn’t specify whether a stylus is part of the package. Even with a bigger battery on board (which Yu also hints at), there should be plenty of room inside the Ascend Mate to sneak one in. Whether or note a stylus is included will probably depend on whether or not Huawei decides it actually does anything to improve the UX.

Perhaps the best news to come out of Yu’s revelation is that the Ascend Mate will be cheaper than the Galaxy Note 2. You’d certainly hope Huawei could produce something that will sell for less than $799 if LG can pump out the Nexus 4 and still justify a sticker price of $349, … though at 6.1 inches, it’s probably more logical to line up the Ascend Mate with the $299 Nexus 7 with HSPA if you’re talking about pricing expectations.

Nokia has announced the newest member of its Windows Phone 8 family, the Lumia 620. Like the higher-end Lumia 920 and 820, it’s being produced in an array of bold colors, but the Lumia 620 is the grunt in this army. It’s a bargain-priced, entry-level device aimed at first-time smartphone buyers and those with limited budgets — or even folks that don’t want to subsidize a new phone by locking themselves into a contract. At just $249 to buy outright, the Lumia 620 is going to attract plenty of attention.

Its specs are modest: a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage (which is expandable via a microSD slot). Its 3.8-inch, 800 x 480 display won’t rival the Oppo Find 5, but Nokia does say that it features the same daylight readability tweaks as the Lumia 920 and 820. NFC support is also built in, so Lumia 620 owners will still be able to enjoy functionality like the slick tap-to-send file transfers that works with Windows 8 Ultrabooks.

And because the Lumia 620 has a half gig of RAM, you’ll be able to use its VGA front-facing camera to make Skype video calls to your friends and family. A 5MP shooter sits on the rear, and power is supplied by a rather scant 1300mAh battery (about 30% less capacity than the battery in the Lumia 820).

The Lumia 620 will go on sale some time in the first quarter of 2013. Right now, it’s set to roll out in Asia first and then head to the EMEA territories. “Additional countries” will see it arrive later, though the US and Canada haven’t been specifically mentioned. It’d be a shame if Nokia didn’t bring the Lumia 620 to North America. A bargain-basement WP8 device in eye-catching colors like these could provide a real boost for Microsoft’s mobile platform.

John McAfee, the security software pioneer who is wanted in connection with a murder in Belize, has launched a blog to defend himself while on the lam.”The Hinterland – The official blog of John McAfee” debuted on Nov. 17, with McAfee writing of a couple of reporters who he claims appear to be out to get him through the press by emphasizing his dark side. One, he claims, is seeking revenge over incriminating photos McAfee believes the reporter thinks McAfee sent to the writer’s wife.

According to news reports, McAfee is the prime suspect in the shooting death of Gregory Faull, an American expatriate and a neighbor of McAfee’s.

ABC News and The Register report that the blog has been authenticated by Chad Essley, a friend of McAfee’s whose upcoming graphic novel about McAfee is plugged prominently. ABC News also reports that a man identifying himself as McAfee confirmed the blog is his.

McAfee writes that he is on run with a 20-year-old female named Sam, photos of whom are in the blog, along with a post from her. McAfee says a handful of friends and associates have been rounded up by police over the past week or so. His posts are filled with dramatic descriptions of his actions (including returning to his home in disguise to find police digging up his dead dogs and cutting off their heads) and lay bare his suspicions about Belize authorities.

“The first two days Sam and I were on the run we were far from our house. I felt helpless, especially given the fact that so many of our friends and workers were being arrested. I realized that unless I knew, moment by moment, what was happening, my chances of coming out of this intact, both emotionally and physically, were slim. I needed to be close to area where the events occurred and needed to watch, and hear, the actions of the authorities. I also needed to do my own investigation, since the police only seemed to be investigating my whereabouts. My safety is contingent on the truth being discovered. I today announced on NBC Television that I am offering a $25,000 reward for the capture of the person or persons responsible for Mr. Faul’s murder.”

Another post urges readers to study up on Belize’s prime minister and a Gang Suppression Unit that McAfee says has been used to go after the prime minister’s critics and enemies, apparently including McAfee himself, as he refers to a raid of his compound by the unit in April. McAfee says the government was wrongfully going after him for illegal drug production and possession of firearms.

McAfee pledges that the blog will stay updated even if he is captured:

“I have pre-written enough material to keep this blog alive for at least a year.”

McAfee started McAfee Inc. in 1987 and moved to Belize a few years ago. He has not been involved in the security company since the 90s.

An expert on user interface design has called Windows 8 “disappointing” for novices and power users alike.

Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group, studied how a dozen experienced PC users interacted with Windows 8, and the conclusion was not good.

“Windows 8 on mobile devices and tablets is akin to Dr. Jekyll: a tortured soul hoping for redemption,” Nielsen wrote. “On a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity.”

Although the sample sizes of Nielsen’s studies are small, he argues that they provide more insight than larger studies focused on metrics. Even if you don’t agree with that assertion, Nielsen does make some good points about how the design of Windows 8 needs improvement.

Windows 8’s dual nature

Nielsen’s main gripe, unsurprisingly, is the dual nature of Windows 8, which combines desktop and touch-friendly environments into a single operating system. Not only is the user interface inconsistent, it also requires users to remember where to go for which features, and to waste time switching between interfaces. Also, when users are running a Web browser in both interfaces, they can only access a subset of their open Web pages at any given time.

But even the Modern-style interface on its own has some major problems in Nielsen’s view. He felt that the inability to open multiple windows of a given application creates a “memory overload” for complex tasks, because users have no way to see all the information they’ve collected. The charms panel, he said, hides generic commands such as search and individual app settings, so they’re “out of sight, out of mind,” especially for novices.

Windows 8 settings menu

Nielsen also pointed out a quirk in the Windows 8 settings menu: While most of the options are presented as flat, monochrome icons, the option to change PC settings is shown in plain text, so it “looks more like the label for the icon group than a clickable command.”

As a layman, I don’t agree with all of Nielsen’s assertions. He knocks some Modern-style apps for having “low-information density”—for instance, the Los Angeles Times app, which shows little more than a large image and a headline on its opening screen—but I actually find those sparser layouts to be refreshing. Nielsen points to the Times’ website as a better use of space but, in my opinion, it’s too cluttered and does nothing to draw the reader in.

Windows 8 frustrations

Still, the study does point out some frustration points that I’ve noticed on my own. For instance, Nielsen claims that some Live Tiles in Windows 8 are too active for their own good, so it’s hard to tell at a glance which apps you’re actually looking at. Indeed, it can be frustrating to hunt down a particular app when confronted with a series of thumbnail images, none of which displays the name of their respective apps.

A selection of Live Tiles in Windows 8

At the end of the report, Nielsen notes that he’s not a Microsoft hater—he praises the sometimes-maligned Ribbon of Microsoft’s desktop apps—and hopes for a better Windows 9, noting that the company has a history of correcting its mistakes. Also, keep in mind that nitpicking user interface issues is Nielsen’s job. He’s previously done the same for Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Disagree if you like, but I think it’s interesting to read a close analysis of the Windows 8 user interface. It’s a big change for Windows, and it’s obviously going to need some tweaking. Hopefully Microsoft takes some of Nielsen’s suggestions to heart.

But the smartphone business is a brutally competitive one, with only Apple and Samsung generating any success of note. Customers now fawn over the iPhone and Galaxy S phones, but little else. Fortunately, CNET is here and willing to unload a little wisdom onto handset vendors.

Without further ado, here are the five “S’s” to smartphone success:

1. Strategy. As in, have a long-term one ready. Sounds pretty obvious, right? But take a look at the smartphone landscape, and you’ll see a lot of companies scrambling to catch up or coming out with a hodgepodge of products with different partners.

Companies that want to be successful in this game need to show a little patience. Apple’s instant success with the original iPhone was an anomaly, and not something other companies can easily replicate. While the Galaxy S brand is a global force now, it’s easy to forget that the phones had a so-so debut on each carrier in the U.S. — all with their own ridiculous names. Remember the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch? That was a real tongue-twister.

But with each new iteration, the Galaxy S branding took hold and consumer awareness and excitement began to build, leading to a phone that can now hold its own against Apple’s once untouchable device. Any handset manufacturer looking for an immediate breakout hit though will be disappointed; buzz tends to swell only after a track record of solid products.

And even if a handset maker scores an early home run, the resulting spike in demand can catch companies off guard. Just look at what happened to HTC, which was once flying high after its first breakout hits, the Evo 4G and Droid Incredible. Its supply chain was stretched almost to the breaking point and sourcing enough components to to keep up with handset orders became a serious headache.

2. Specifications. If you’re building a flagship device, don’t just cram in all of the trendy features and shiny hardware in that you possibly can. Try to anticipate where customer demand and styles of usage are heading and build devices that satisfy them.

For example, HTC’s foray into 3D screens and cameras, notably with the Evo 3D, was a terrible idea. Also, don’t use components based on competitors in the market now, strive to plan ahead to what will still be a powerful phone a year out. This is a malady that plagues Sony in particular. Its Xperia NXT series (P, U, S), are perfect examples of phones that were obsolete even before they hit store shelves.

At minimum, today’s smartphone should come equipped with a high-end quad-core processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, 16 gigabytes of storage (or more), and super high-resolution display packed to the gills with pixels. Other add-ons such as NFC and wireless charging are a plus, although they’re slowly becoming standard features themselves.

Also, don’t underestimate the design aspect of the phone. It sounds like another obvious one, but how many so-called flagship phones look like generic black bricks? Nokia has shown the carriers that color matters, and people like an alternative to drab-looking phones. The HTC Droid DNA, with metallic red accents and premium craftsmanship is another drop-dead gorgeous device.

Slim is also still sexy. While phone displays have gotten bigger and bigger, the best smartphone manufacturers are still able to pack all those features into a slimmer phone. Motorola’s Razr line has done a good job of keeping the design sleek, and the Razr M in particular has been good at packing in more display into a smaller frame. All high-end smartphones should do away with as much bezel as possible.

3. Software. Plenty of handset makers feel they can get away with using an older version ofAndroid. That may be true for mass-market smartphones, but not for your true flagship device. Sony’s Xperia TL, its flagship phone for the holidays, finally got Ice Cream Sandwich, or Android 4.0, at a time when many high-end phones ship with Jelly Bean 4.1, or at least have begun to receive updates.

To better stand apart from the pack, the smartphone vendors all like to spread their own “secret sauce” all over Android. HTC has its Sense user interface, while Samsung has Touchwiz. The handset makers need to take a “less is more” approach with this, as any heavy-handed customizations only bog down the phone and often elicit complaints from hardcore Android fans.

For example, Samsung’s Galaxy S phones started to get improved reviews only after it eased off on the TouchWiz customizations after subsequent iterations. To be fair, carriers share some guilt here. We’re convinced they often deliberately withhold software upgrades on existing phones, only to use fresher Android flavors to push users to buy new handsets. Heck, not even the carrier-branded Google Nexus products are immune to this shady shell game.

4. Slick marketing. Even if companies build the most spec-ed out phone with the latest software it could still be a flop without the robust marketing support. Just look at HTC, whoseOne X was critically praised but still not successful enough to turn its dampening financial prospects around.

The Galaxy S III, meanwhile, has been a monster hit, and that’s due in no small part to the massive marketing campaign that Samsung put behind the device. In addition, the ability to maintain the Galaxy S brand throughout its flagship products has been a powerful tool, something that others have emulated with HTC’s One, Nokia’s Lumia, or Sony’s Xperia.

And don’t count on James Bond to get people to notice your devices either. The Xperia TL may be the most compelling handset Sony has brought to the U.S. market in a long while, but the phone only made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the film “Skyfall,” and didn’t stand out from other average-looking smartphones.

How much firepower will you need? Just turn on the television and you’ll likely be hit over the head with a Samsung ad for the Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note 2 — it’s easy to see Sammy poured a huge investment in raising awareness for the brand and phone. And while Apple has a huge amount of built-in buzz already, that hasn’t stopped the company from heavily promoting its latest iPhone.

5. Support from carriers. Ultimately, carrier support can make or break a product. If a carrier decides to position one smartphone as its flagship product, chances are it will do well. Basically, that means the handset manufacturer has to kowtow to their demands while coming up with a standout product in hopes of getting full carrier support, both in the form of marketing support, as well as sales support in its stores. While retailers are slowly becoming a source for smartphone sales, a majority of consumers still shop in the carrier stores.

This is where Sony has made a critical error. So far, the company has only worked with AT&T when it comes to its high-end phones, and historically stuck with GSM-based technology. If Sony wants a real chance with consumers, it needs to get to as many people as possible, which means building phones for Verizon Wireless and Sprint. Verizon, in particular, is the largest carrier in the country, and it wouldn’t be smart to ignore its base of customers.

No one is lining up at a Verizon store for a Sony phone.

(Credit: Roger Cheng/CNET)

Too bad it doesn’t have the clout to convince Big Red, or the other carriers, into rubber-stamping approval for its phones.

While exclusivity deals have been rendered less important over the years, they are still valuable tools for smartphones looking for some instant attention. The Droid DNA will likely do well as the exclusive flagship for Verizon.

At the same time, Samsung and Apple have shown that the best franchises maintain their brands across all carriers. The iPhone is just the iPhone, just like the Galaxy S III is the Galaxy S III everywhere, and not the Captivate, or Obfuscate. Sony has a consistent brand in the Xperia, but right now, it’s not one that people care about.

Conclusion. OK, maybe these points aren’t exactly so secretive. But it’s amazing how many companies ignore some or all of these steps. Following through with all five S’s is no guarantee of success, but it definitely puts that company on solid footing and a step up from the rest of the industry. For some of these companies, they can use all the help they can get.